By Jean Seaver, MSN, RN
The news about the shortage of nurses is alarming. With a national shortage of more than 510,000 predicted by 2030, and the Florida Hospital Association predicting a shortage of 59,000 nurses by 2035 in this state alone, it’s important to not only attract people to the profession but to help novice nurses succeed as they enter the workforce by providing robust nurse residency programs.
The current challenge many hospitals face is finding enough experienced nurses to serve as preceptors in their nurse residency programs.
Because we have seen a lot of our highly experienced nurses leaving the hospital setting in recent years, whether due to COVID, lucrative travel nurse assignments or the decision to take early retirement, Broward Health innovated a new tiered approach for its nurse residency program. The system created residency support specialist positions for its most experienced nurses who then coach the clinical nurse preceptors working with newly graduated nurses.
To provide entry-level nurses with the best possible foundation, Broward Health’s nurse residency program is intensive in the first 12 weeks, but residency support specialists and preceptors continue to follow new nurses throughout their first year.
Because nursing is a practice-based profession, the transition and learning curve from student to nurse can be daunting.
I like to say that nurses who just graduated often don’t know what they don’t know. There is so much to the profession that goes beyond what is learned in the classroom. In addition to managing patient care for groups of patients with diverse needs, it’s being responsible for monitoring complex equipment, electronic documentation, medication, admissions and discharges all in one shift. It’s a lot to balance, and we think adding this extra level to our program will make our nurses feel supported and help them more quickly acclimate to the hospital setting.
Additionally, Broward Health’s experienced residency support specialists can help new nurses understand the diverse career paths in nursing to identify areas that are a good fit for them instead of leaving the profession.
Broward Health implemented this program about a year ago with the direction of Sylvia Jones, APRN, DNP, nurse residency manager, and we’re getting great feedback.
Having our residency support specialists and clinical coaches round with the novice nurses helps them not only develop their clinical knowledge but their problem-solving, prioritization and time management skills as well. And our preceptors learn how to be better coaches and trainers and have an additional level of support. Nothing beats the pearls of wisdom and insight that a nurse with decades of experience can provide.
Jean Seaver, MSN, RN, is the associate vice president of learning and development for Broward Health, and president-elect of the Nursing Consortium of South Florida. For more information, visit www.BrowardHealth.org/Pages/Nurse-Residency-Program.
